The Raw Feed

Mystery Pic 114: What Is It?

2010-03-19T17:42:00.000-07:00

What is it? Post your guess in the comments section below. Make sure you give your whole name and the city you live in! If you're first with the right answer, you'll earn the dubious honor of getting your name in the next issue of the awe-inspiring Mike's List newsletter. The answer will be revealed in the next issue of Mike's List. Go here to subscribe. (It's free!)

Why iGroups is coming to an iPhone near you!

2010-03-19T13:04:00.001-07:00

Apple Inc. filed a patent application recently for mobile social networking technology called iGroups.

Mobile social networking is the use of location information ("I'm at MacWorld right now") to connect with colleagues ("you're here, too!") in a way that enhances social networking, replaces the exchanging of business cards and facilitates face-to-face meetings.

The filing of a patent doesn't mean Apple will turn this technology into a product. But I think they will -- and soon. Here's why.

Is Google Trying to Out-Microsoft Microsoft?

2010-03-17T17:50:00.001-07:00

In the early 1990s, WordPerfect dominated the word processor scene, and Microsoft Word was a scrappy underdog. It's hard to believe now, but it's true.

As Word rose in popularity, many WordPerfect users resisted. They had spent so much time learning the WordPerfect-specific keystrokes, called function keys. So what did Microsoft do? They enabled a mode whereby WordPerfect keystrokes would execute the same commands in Word that they did in WordPerfect.

In addition, Microsoft gave discounts on Windows to OEMs who included Word on new PCs. The result was (and maybe still is) that most new PCs came with Word pre-installed, and the additional cost was pretty low.

Besides, WordPerfect was really just a relic of the DOS era, and Word was a creature of the new world of graphical computing. And the rest, including WordPerfect as a dominant application, is history.

Microsoft's tactics proved fatal to WordPerfect's preeminence. This was largely lost to history, but its lesson was not lost on Google. It appears that history is repeating itself. This time, Microsoft is the target.

Diamond-studded iPad says "I'm an idiot, but a rich one!"

2010-03-15T06:32:00.001-07:00

The Apple iPad is reasonably priced. If that bothers you, feel free to spend $19,999 on a diamond-studded iPad ("hand-set in a micro-pave styling," whatever that means). You'll feel like an idiot when the newer, faster iPad inevitably comes out within a year. (Props to Engadget)

Posted via email from Mike Elgan's Lifestream

Found photo: Genius? Or idiotic?

2010-03-14T21:35:00.001-07:00

Does anyone know the story behind this picture?

Posted via email from Mike Elgan's Lifestream

Laptops disrupt lectures. So let's ban lectures!

2010-03-14T11:17:00.001-07:00

Lecturing professors nowadays face a room full of students paying full attention -- to their laptops. A lecture, by definition, is a method of teaching whereby a person talks and an audience pays attention. But a laptop is an interruption machine that fragments attention. Lectures and laptops are incompatible activities. Some professors have addressed the fundamental incompatibility of lectures and laptops by banning the laptops. But maybe it would be better to keep the laptops and ban the lectures. Here's why.

Posted via email from Mike Elgan's Lifestream

The iPad paradox: Less is the new more!

2010-03-14T11:11:00.001-07:00

I've noticed a trend online recently of new services whose main feature is that they hardly do anything. Twitter was the first major site in this new trend, which boldly asserted its limitations as features. "You can't send more than 140 characters!" "No pictures!" "No formatting!" "It does hardly anything!" Welcome to the future. The less-is-more world is here. Get used to it. And if you're going to argue with an iPad fan about why netbooks are better, don't bother with listing what the iPad cannot do. Limitations are what people want now. (Read)

Posted via email from Mike Elgan's Lifestream

What sort of man reads 'Playboy'? A criminal.

2010-03-12T09:37:00.001-08:00

Playboy Enterprises has inked a deal with 2K Games for the product-placement of Playboy magazines all over scenes in the game Mafia II.

Posted via email from Mike Elgan's Lifestream

Found photo: Hulk is a Blackberry user!

2010-03-12T08:46:00.001-08:00

Mystery Pic 113: What is it?

2010-03-05T09:29:00.001-08:00

The Pentagon: "We're looking for a few good iPhone apps."

2010-03-04T09:37:00.001-08:00

The Pentagon's DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), the people who created the Internet, have recently issued a call for iPhone and Android applications useful for national security, including for soldiers on the battlefield and also for spies.

Microsoft wants to use your flesh as an input device.

2010-03-02T08:22:00.001-08:00

Microsoft researchers are working on something called "Skinput," which is the use of human skin as an input device. In this case, a display is projected on the arm. When the user taps, a computer analyzes the sound in the body (which varies according to bone density and other factors) to determine which button to push. The company plans to unveil all this in April. (Props)

MIT invents small, social robot "avatar" that does hand gestures

2010-03-02T07:12:00.001-08:00

MIT eggheads have assembled a telepresence robot (for a thesis) called MeBot. The robot acts as web cam application, except it has arms that convey hand-gestures.

Mystery Pic 112: What is it?

2010-02-26T04:00:00.000-08:00

Taiwan news station simulates Gordon Brown abuse allegations.

2010-02-23T10:47:00.001-08:00

That Taiwanese news station is at it again! First Tiger Woods, Now this!

Apple fans unleashed! Couple gets married at Apple store!

2010-02-20T10:07:00.001-08:00

Apple enthusiasts Joshua and Ting Li got married at an Apple store on Valentine's Day. The priest was dressed like Steve Jobs, and read the service from a white iPhone. The rings were conveyed not on a pillow, but on a first-generation iPod. Her vows were written on a card that said "I love you more than this" with a picture of an iPhone. Oh, man. She's a keeper. (More)

New game based on Austin IRS plane attacker

2010-02-20T08:29:00.001-08:00

A new online game called Tax Time! has you controlling an on-screen Joseph Stack, the Austin plane attacker. The game action is right out of the news. Your objective is to light your house on fire, jump into an airplane and fly it into the IRS building. Sick!

Fake iPhones from China reach UK

2010-02-19T22:04:00.001-08:00

Cult of Mac says cheap Chinese fake iPhones are being sold in the UK. Anyone seen one in the US yet?

Mystery Pic 111: What is it?

2010-02-19T03:00:00.000-08:00

CNN running this ad with Austin anti-IRS attack

2010-02-18T12:01:00.001-08:00

Almost everything on TV is filmed with green screen

2010-02-17T08:47:00.001-08:00

Even the most mundane scenes these days are filmed with the magic of green screen technology. (Props to Kottke.org)

Mattel unveils Computer Engineer Barbie

2010-02-12T23:45:00.001-08:00

The toy company Mattel rolled out today at the New York Toy Fair a new job for their most famous doll: Computer Engineer Barbie. Like most "computer engineers," Barbie carries a hot-pink laptop accessorized by matching pumps. (Computer Engineer Barbie is shown here with News Anchor Barbie, also unveiled today.)

Microsoft millionaire invents mosquito death ray

2010-02-12T05:37:00.001-08:00

Former Microsoft genius Nathan Myhrvold has invented a "Star Wars" anti-missile system for mosquitoes, which tracks them in flight and zaps them out of the air with a laser beam. The mosquito death ray is designed to help protect against malaria and is funded by Myhrvold's former boss, Bill Gates. More videos. (Props to BoingBoing)

Mystery Pic 110: What is it?

2010-02-12T01:00:00.000-08:00

What's wrong with Google Buzz?

2010-02-11T05:44:00.001-08:00

There's something wrong with Google Buzz. And it's the same thing that's wrong with Google itself. Google is all brains and no heart. All logic and no intuition. Google Buzz should be wonderful. It makes perfect sense. So why does it annoy? Here's why.